Cadaver dogs to scan site

Search for remains in mass grave to continue ‘as long as it takes'

LINDEN - Investigators reported no new discoveries Thursday at a mass grave near Linden, but they are nowhere near wrapping up their search of a site where two serial killers dumped bodies of their victims decades ago.

LINDEN - Investigators reported no new discoveries Thursday at a mass grave near Linden, but they are nowhere near wrapping up their search of a site where two serial killers dumped bodies of their victims decades ago.

San Joaquin County Sheriff's officials plan to call in cadaver-sniffing dogs as early as today to further search for human remains. They also plan to use a high-definition camera to view the interior of the 50-foot well where the grisly findings were unearthed last week. Once crews are satisfied the well near eucalyptus trees on Flood Road has been thoroughly searched, they will turn their sights to another sealed well on the property that could contain more remains.

"We'll be out here as long as it takes," said Deputy Les Garcia, a Sheriff's Office spokesman. "Our focus is on this area."

The latest development in the investigation was Thursday's announcement that cadaver-sniffing dogs would arrive at the scene shortly. The dogs, which will be borrowed from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, will double-check the more than 50 piles of dirt already taken from the well by an excavator and sifted by investigators.

They will also be used to help authorities locate a second well on the property that could yield more victims of convicted killers Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine.

The childhood friends from Linden went on a drug-fueled killing spree in the 1980s and '90s before being arrested in 1999.

Shermantine was convicted of four murders. Herzog's conviction in three murders was overturned on appeal, and he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in one.

But the actual number of the duo's victims is unclear. Shermantine himself has recently said there could be roughly 20, but he had earlier denied his involvement in the killings.

Herzog and Shermantine each said the other did the killings, and they only helped their friend discard the bodies.

Herzog was paroled in 2010 and apparently hanged himself earlier this year. His death came after he was informed Shermantine was working with investigators to recover the bodies of victims.

More than 1,000 bone fragments have been found this week in the first well that Shermantine described in letters he wrote from his death row cell.

Authorities have not yet identified any of the bone fragments found in San Joaquin County. The bones are being sent to the California Department of Justice for DNA analysis.

Garcia said an expert is needed to view tape from a camera sent down the well Thursday morning. Investigators intend to have a specialist from the Department of Justice view the tape. They also plan on sending a second camera down the well again soon for further analysis.

Authorities are leaving nothing to chance at the scene, Garcia said.

Investigators are even collecting beer cans discovered among debris inside the well as evidence.

"I don't know if we'll be able to extract DNA on some of these items, but if we don't collect them now, we'll never get them back," Garcia said.

The exhaustive search has taken its toll on crews who have worked diligently throughout the week, he said.

"We literally are having to send people home because they are so dedicated to being out here and searching," Garcia said. "Then they come back the first chance they get."

Some detectives at the scene must leave to attend court hearings in unrelated cases, and patrol deputies have been called out to search the active scene in their place, he said.

Between the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, the Department of Justice and the county public works department, there are about 20 people searching the area throughout the daylight hours.